Charter Frenzy ?

This is the moment I have feared.

Time is short. Money is on the line. And there has not been enough of an effort to craft an effective charter school law.

With the last remaining hours of the legislative session quickly dwindling away, will there be a big push to pass some kind of charter legislation and earn 32 more points to nail down Kentucky's share of Race to the Top funding in the second round? Yesterday, Education Commissioner Terry Holliday gave the effort a big shove.

If Holliday's math is correct, the additional points in the RTTT competition would yield a score of 450.8, and place Kentucky just behind top scorer Delaware (assuming everybody else remains the same - which is, admittedly, a big assumption). Susan Weston shows the breakdown of points over at Prich.

The commissioner has expressed concerned that charter schools should not be lacking in oversight. “The only way I would support them is if they were authorized by the local school board and superintendent and that they be high-performing,” Holliday has told KSN&C and EducationNews.org. This is wise. In other states some charter schools have floundered before having to be shut down. Holliday wants to ensure that charters are effective and placed where they are needed.

Charter advocates off-handedly tout the state’s ability to shut down ineffective schools as a strength, apparently without regard for the affected students. ‘If they don’t work you can close them,’ some say. But that’s hardly a strong endorsement. Some charter advocates seem to be planning to fail, but in Kentucky we need schools that will work the first time. And they must work in cooperation with the public system – not in competition with it.

At the same time legislators ought to allow fresh options for public schools that have languished. Low-performing schools tend to deny a quality education to the same groups of underserved students over and over again – a cycle that must be broken.

At present two pre-filed bills are sitting in the legislature, hopefully going nowhere. Despite the sponsors’ public comments about how the bill would help the poor and underserved, the language of the bills would open charters to competition with any school in the state, potentially draining funding from even the most effective.

If Kentucky is to move forward on this issue, and perhaps we should, it ought to be done cautiously so as not to create an opportunity for "semi-private schools" to be formed for white suburban parents using public money – which I skeptically suspect is Rep Stan Lee and Rep Brad Montell’s true intention. If I'm wrong, I encourage Montell and Lee to amend their bills.

This from Jim Warren at H-L:

...Kentucky Education Secretary Terry Holliday said Monday afternoon that he plans to have a report ready for Gov. Steve Beshear and General Assembly leaders by late Tuesday, outlining steps that possibly could be taken in the remaining days of the legislative session to enhance Kentucky's chances in the second round. One possibility cited by Holliday was legislation providing for charter schools in Kentucky, which he said could immediately add 32 points to Kentucky's Race score.

Charter schools are granted special permits, or charters, that allow them to operate outside usual state regulations.

Meanwhile, two Republican legislators later Monday afternoon urged their colleagues to consider charter schools as a way to boost Kentucky's Race chances. The two — Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, and Brad Montell, R-Shelbyville — both sponsored charter legislation in this session.

Also Monday afternoon, a citizens group calling itself Parents for Improving Education issued a statement asking Beshear and Holliday to begin work on charter school legislation to lift Kentucky's Race odds.

Only three working days remain in the legislative session, but it's still possible for lawmakers to adopt a charter school bill...

Monday, Holliday said he wants to review federal comments on Kentucky's application to determine where the state might have come up short. He plans to include that in his report to Beshear and lawmakers on Tuesday. But it is known that the state had a "32-point handicap" because its application lacked provisions for charter schools, Holliday said.

"That's our handicap, and I don't know if that's something Kentucky wants to take up or not," Holliday said. "I'll have to leave that to the politicians. But it looks like we need about 30 more points."

Both Delaware and Tennessee have charter schools, but so do many finalists that didn't win grants on Monday. Kentucky was the only state among the 16 finalists that does not have charter schools....

If there is to be a late push for charters in this session we need a bill that starts from scratch.
Such a law should consider the following:

1) Consistent with the Kentucky Constitution, the General Assembly shall, by appropriate legislation, assure that the public school system, including charter schools, will provide an adequate education to every student throughout the Commonwealth. Accordingly, charter schools will not be permitted in competition with successful public schools as defined by the legislature and measured by the state accountability system. And accordingly, no public school district will deny a charter to a properly submitted charter school applicant proposing to serve a traditionally underserved population as defined by the General Assembly and measured by the state accountability system. The growth of public charter schools in the state shall be closely monitored by the General Assembly to assure that all constitutional requirements are satisfied and that a reasonable amount of growth in the number of charter schools is set for any given year.

2) Public charter schools may include new start-ups and public school conver­sions where requested by the school council. The General Assembly will study the efficacy and specific purposes for which virtual schools may be appropriate prior to issuing any charters for virtual schools.

3) Charter schools may be authorized only by application to the Kentucky Education Cabinet except for any legislatively chartered schools as the General assembly may choose to create. There will be no limit on the number of charter schools one provider may establish in the state except for those limitations as the General Assembly may impose on the number of new charter schools in a given year.

4) Anyone holding a charter for schooling in Kentucky shall submit to a reporting program designed by the General Assembly based on objective data, and overseen by the Kentucky Education Cabinet, which will, in turn, assure that all chartering entities receive the appropriate amount of state funding and assure public accountability for all such expenditures.

5) A transparent charter application, review, and decision-making process will be developed by the General Assembly including compre­hensive academic, operational, governance, and performance application requirements, with such applications reviewed and acted upon by the Education cabinet.

6) Comprehensive public charter school monitoring and data collection processes will be developed by the General Assembly to assure that all charter holders can verify public charter school compliance with applicable law and their performance-based contracts.

7) The General Assembly will draft clear processes for renewal, nonrenewal, and revocation decisions, including school closure and dissolution procedures to be used by all charter holders.

8) Performance-based charter contracts will be required, with such contracts created as separate post-application documents between charter holders and the Kentucky Education Cabinet, detailing academic performance expectations, opera­tional performance expectations, and charter holder rights and responsibilities.

9) The General Assembly will draft legislation specifying the parameters of fiscally and legally autonomous schools, including the creation of independent public charter school boards possessing most of the powers granted to other traditional public school district boards.

10) The General Assembly will draft legislation that provides for clear student recruitment, enrollment and lottery procedures, which must be followed by all public charter schools.

11) The General Assembly will draft legislation that provides automatic exemptions from many state laws, except for those covering health, safety, civil rights, student achievement assessment and accountability, employee criminal history checks, open meetings, freedom of information requirements, and generally accepted accounting principles.

12) Public charter schools will be exempt from any outside collective bargaining agreements, while not interfering with laws and other appli­cable rules protecting the rights of employees to organize and be free from discrimination.

13) Educational service providers will be allowed providing there is a clear performance contract between the independent public charter school board and the service provider and there are no conflicts of interest between the two entities.

14) Multi-school charter contracts and multi-charter contract boards will be permitted such that an independent public charter school board may oversee multiple schools linked under a single charter contract or may hold multiple charter contracts.

15) The General Assembly will study extra-curricular and interscholastic activities eligibility and access to determine (a) under what conditions public charter school students and employees are eligible for state- and district-sponsored interscholastic leagues, competitions, awards, scholarships, and recognition programs (b) if, and to what extent, public charter schools will be required to provide extra-curricular and interscholastic athletic activities (c) or if, charter school students will have access to those activities at traditional public schools for a fee via mutual agreement.

16) The General Assembly will draft legislation clarifying the identification of special education responsibilities, including determination of the local education agency (LEA) responsible for such services and how and where such services are to be funded (especially for low-incidence/high cost cases).

17) The General Assembly will draft legislation providing equitable operational funding and equal access to all state and federal categorical funding, flowing to the charter school in a timely fashion and in the same proportional amount as district schools following eligibility criteria consistent with all other public schools.

18) The General Assembly will draft legislation providing equitable access to capital funding and facilities, including multiple provisions such as: a per-pupil facility allowance (equal to statewide average per-pupil capital costs); facility grant and revolving loan programs; a charter school bonding authority (or access to all relevant state tax-exempt bonding authorities available to all other public schools); the right of first refusal to purchase or lease at or below fair market value a closed or unused public school facility or property; and clarity that no state or local entity may impose any facility-related requirements that are stricter than those applied to traditional public schools.

19) The General Assembly will draft legislation providing access to relevant employee retirement systems, with the option to participate in a similar manner to all other public schools.

20) The General Assembly will study transportation issues related to those public charter school students who qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program.

That's a lot to consider in such a short time.